Carroll: A penny saved is one I found lying around

Sunday

I remember when a penny was worth much more than one cent. It was an object of wonder and great value. It sometimes appeared mysteriously, and it could get you enough candy to last at least two days.

When I was a child living on Franklin Avenue, I could get excited just seeing a penny. All of us kids looked for pennies under the Penny tree. We really believed a certain tree, which looked exactly like a Catalpa, was a Penny tree. We couldn't see any pennies hanging on the tree, but occasionally, often enough to keep us looking; there would be a penny or two on the ground under the tree.

It was a bonanza!! A penny would buy a whole bunch of candy at the store.

When I got older, I learned that a man in the neighborhood would frequently drop a penny or two there because he enjoyed seeing the children find them. He enjoyed our innocent wonder at the magic of finding a penny.

Many of us have forgotten the wonder of finding a penny, but I'm not one of them. When I find a penny, I still feel that little rush and I pick it up, but I don't run with it to the candy store anymore. We all know we can't buy anything with a penny. However, being a whiz at math, I know that 100 pennies makes a dollar.

Last year I found 22 pennies in the parking lot on Beaver Avenue. It was the Mount Everest of my penny-finding experiences, and I couldn't wait to share it. As I went in for my pedicure, I told the lovely young woman that I had just found 22 pennies.

She said, "Oh, yeah. They've been there for about a week."

A week! She explained that she never bothers to pick up pennies, and obviously, she isn't the only one as 22 pennies languished in the parking lot until I came along and saved them. As I explained that 22 pennies was almost one-fourth of a dollar, she shrugged.

As the old saying goes, one woman's trash is another woman's treasure. I was thrilled with my find.

Obviously Penny trees were extinct by the time she was born and therefore she missed out on the pleasure of magically finding a penny.

I bring pennies home and drop them in a cup, and when I have 30 or so I take them to church where they join other pennies in a jar. Once a month, the pennies are counted and sent to the Heifer Fund.

If you haven't heard of the Heifer Fund, I suggest you check it out.

The Heifer Project has been practicing the teach-a-man-to-fish philosophy since 1944. What I like best about what they do is their guiding principle of passing on the gift. Here is a brief example. I'll use bees because my husband was a beekeeper.

The recipient receives a hive with bees and the necessary supplies and training to be a beekeeper. The person then has the means to add honey to his family's food and the ability to sell honey to help their finances. When he has his first swarm, he must pass them on to someone else along with his knowledge and so the gift keeps on and on.

If I didn't give my pennies to the Heifer Project, I'm sure I would find some other good use for them. A penny saved is a penny I found lying around.

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